It’s not only the low and middle priced homes are selling as short, the higher end home owners (million dollar plus) are also having difficulty in this economy to keep paying their mortgage payment, so they are also pursuing short sale in order to avoid foreclosure.

In just Alameda and Contra Costa counties, luxury homes which sold as short sale were higher than as compared to 2009.  In 2008, it was 28 homes and 44 homes in 2009 (63% higher than 2008) and in 2010, as of March 23, 2010, 17 homes (million plus) were sold as short sale.

Here’s the detail numbers by cities (Alamo, Berkeley, Blackhawk, Campbell, Clayton, Concord, Danville, Diablo, Discovery Bay, Dublin, Fremont, Gilroy, Hayward, Lafayette, Livermore, Martinez, Moraga, Oakland, Orinda, Piedmont, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Union City & Walnut Creek) which were sold in 2008, 2009 and 2010:

Here are the active and pending short sales as of March 23, 2010:

The total number of million dollar plus short sale activities has been increased as compared to the last year.  As of now, the total numbers of short sale homes (Active, Pending & Sold) are 89, which is way higher than last year.

The government has also realized that more homeowners need assistance in avoiding foreclosure, so the treasury department has passed the new law, in which all the major lenders are required to participate, starting from April 5th of this year. The new law is called HAFA, which is the addition of HAMP program.

According to the Mortgage Forgiveness Relief Act of 2007, the homeowners of primary residence can avoid the tax on the differences up to $2 million for married and $1 million if married and filing separately. So, this limit will qualify most of the million dollar homes for short sale. Consult with your CPA or attorney for any legal or tax questions before doing short sale.

So, if your house is worth million dollars plus in bay area and thinking of doing short sale or have any questions, please feel free to give me a call at 510-366-9405, I would be happy to assist you.  Your Bay Area Short Sale Specialist!

I just checked my MLS for the homes sold in the last couple of year sales in just tri-city area (Fremont, Newark & Union City) of Alameda County. The percentage of sold REO and Short Sale homes are increasing in these areas. It’s not only in tri-city area but in over all California, it’s 50% of all home sales are short sale and REOs.

Here’s the numbers of Fremont, Newark and Union City area for the year of 2008, 2009 and 2010 (as of March 15, 2010):

You can see from the above percentage that numbers of short sale and reo homes are increasing every year and more than half of the homes sold were short sale & REOs.

Here’s another article on Tim and Julie Harris website which shows that 50% of all home sales in California are in either pre-foreclosure and foreclosure sales, so thought I would share this information with my friends, clients and readers of my blog.

Foreclosed homes taken back by lenders and distressed short sales accounted for nearly half of all residential home sales in California in 2009, according to a market report released this week by the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.). In 2008, such sales made up 38 percent of annual transactions.

As one of the hardest-hit states by the housing downturn, the Golden State is littered with bank-owned properties and homes facing foreclosure, but the lower prices and increasing buyer appetite for these deals are helping to reduce some of California’s distressed inventory.

The median price of distressed properties declined nearly one quarter to $250,000 in 2009, compared with $330,000 in 2008, C.A.R. reported. Meanwhile, the median price of non-distressed properties decreased only 10.4 percent to $485,000 compared with $541,000 in 2008.

Although one-third of sellers sold their homes for a loss last year – the highest level on record since C.A.R. started tracking net cash losses in 1989 – the lower home prices lured investors. According to the state Realtors association, more than 70 percent of properties purchased by investors were either short sales or REO/foreclosures. The typical investment property had a median price of $232,750.

Lower home prices and a large supply of distressed properties, coupled with federal tax breaks, also encouraged first-time buyers to take the plunge into homeownership. The percent of first-time buyers increased dramatically to 47 percent in 2009, up from 35.9 percent in 2008, according to the report.
“It is clear that the federal tax credit for homebuyers worked well in 2009 and is continuing to drive home sales,” said C.A.R. President Steve Goddard. “The homebuyers’ tax credit is arguably the most successful strategy employed by the government’s efforts to stimulate the economy.”

According to a survey conducted by C.A.R. on the effectiveness of the federal tax credit, nearly 40 percent of homebuyers in the state said they would not have purchased a home if the tax credit was not offered.
C.A.R. also noted that the large number of distressed properties led to more than half of all first-time buyers purchasing an REO/foreclosure or short sale property.

According to C.A.R.’s analysis, California’s median home price hit bottom in February 2009 at $245,170. Since then, the median home price has increased steadily in month-to-month comparisons, but remained below 2008 levels throughout 2009. The annual median price is projected to increase to $280,000 in 2010 from $271,000 in 2009, the association said.
Homes priced $500,000 or less dominated the sales mix throughout 2008 and 2009, but C.A.R. says sales of high-end homes started picking up in late 2009, with the number of closings for homes priced $500,000 or higher rising 3 percent, and sales of homes priced $1 million or more experiencing their first year-to-year increase since July 2007.

A separate study by a local newspaper shows that a growing number of Californians are turning to the courts to fight the foreclosure process and prevent their homes from becoming REOs. According to numbers complied by the San Jose Mercury News, the number of foreclosure lawsuits filed in federal court in California has ballooned from just 29 cases statewide in 2005 to nearly 1,400 in 2009.

If you are facing hardship or your loan modification got denied and would like to know how to avoid foreclosure, please don’t hesitate to call me directly at 510-366-9405, I would be more than happy to assist you to avoid from this foreclosure. Your short sale real estate agent in bay area.

I have just checked the weekly short sale activities in Alameda and Contra Costa County where I recently listed or sold houses and areas which are close to my office. 

Here are the activities in the first week of March 2010 in areas of Castro Valley, Dublin, Fremont, Hayward, Newark, Pleasanton, San Ramon and Union City.  As a Certified Short Sale Specialist in Bay area, it is important to me to know the market to assist my clients better to sell or buy their house in this type of market.

Total Short Sale Activities in the Above Mentioned Areas:
          —- Active listings : 405
          —- Pending listings : 1,214
          —- Sold listings : 400

 Here are the numbers in detail with city names, available number of houses for sale with low and high list/sold prices:

So, market is moving and lots of buyers are buying and sellers are selling their houses, so it’s a good time to buy and sell in this market. Let me know if I can help you with selling your house in this market or have any questions in short sale.  You can reach me at 510-366-9405.

Yesterday, one of the homeowner asked me whether any buyers are buying short sale listings in this market. Let me share you some market information about short sale listings which are sold in the last 30 days where I sell houses.   You will know by the below numbers that buyers are still buying in this market and short sale listings are also selling in this market.

I have just checked only these areas for the short sale activities (Oakland, San Leandro, Hayward, Union City, Newark, Fremont, Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin, San Ramon and Walnut Creek). For the last 30 days alone from the bay east association of realtor’s MLS, 561 short sale homes are pending and 150 houses sold.  Here’s the break down of the numbers by the city names:

21 short sale homes were sold in the Oakland
16 short sale homes were sold in the San Leandro
32 short sale homes were sold in Hayward
06 short sale homes were sold in Union City
08 short sale homes were sold in Newark
22 short sale homes were sold in Fremont
08 short sale homes were sold in Pleasanton
13 short sale homes were sold in Livermore
05 short sale homes were sold in Dublin
14 short sale homes were sold in San Ramon 
05 short sale homes were sold in Walnut Creek

Here’s the short sale listing sold with price ranges:

 If you are a homeowner and having difficulty in paying your mortgage or missed payment or you know that you will miss your mortgage payment in the near future then contact an experienced short sale agent who can assist you with your short sale. 

Short sale is a complex  transaction- lots of paper work, negotiation with lender, coordinate with buyer, coordinate with title, etc., and all agents are not experienced in short sale, so always, let me repeat that “Always” work with an experienced short sale agent and it’s a plus if the agent is Certified Short Sale Specialist from Harris Real Estate University.  After all, you do want to get out of this mortgage issue to start a new life –right? Do the right thing and work with an experienced short sale agent to sell your house.

If you are in Bay Area then give me a call so that I can assist you with your short sale or call me even if you have any questions, I would be glad to help you.

Here’s the summary of short sale activities in Fremont, Newark, Union City and Hayward for the month of July 2009:

 * The above information is from the bay east association mls, this information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.

If you are interested in buying or selling your house in any of the above areas or near by or have any questions or need more detail information on the sales activities then please let me know at 510-366-9405 or email me at Blaison@blaisonsamuel.com, I would be glad to assist you. – East Bay Short Sale Expert.

Below is the recent short sale activities in Fremont, Newark, Union City, Hayward areas for the month of June 2009.

The above information is from the bay east association mls, this information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.

If you are interested in buying or selling your house in any of the above areas or near by or have any questions then please let me know at 510-366-9405 or email me at Blaison@blaisonsamuel.com, I would be glad to assist you. East Bay Short Sale Expert.